>> new tonight at 11:00, terrifying moments inside two local jewelry stores. for the second time in two days, crooks hit in broad daylight. good evening. by now, you've already heard about what happened at zales in pentagon city yesterday. >> but tonight we have brand- new video of a robbery this afternoon at a jewelry store in frederick. our ken molestina is there and the video is just amazing. you really feel for the woman inside at the time. >> reporter: absolutely, leslie. the images you're about to see tell it all. this was absolutely bold. it was daring. these women who were inside at least some of them, police say were hit with pepper spray. folks, once again it was all caught on the crook cam. let's show you what we're talking about. take a look here. you can see three men enter the

colonial jewelry store on south market street after 1:00 today. one of the men appears to have a gun and he orders the women inside on to the floor. a second man then with the pepper spray can is seen firing off some of the chemical. the thieves break the glass cases and make off with handfuls of jewelry. the whole thing was over in minutes. thankfully no one was seriously hurt here. let's go on to yesterday. a similar scene at the zales jewelry store inside pentagon's mall. police say they made off with 27 rings totaling close to $130,000. now, police have not linked any of these cases. they don't say or they're not saying, rather, if they're both related. but tonight, the crooks in the case out in arlington and the one out here in frederick, they're on the loose tonight. police are asking for the public's help. anyone down in arlington that may know something about that robbery is being asked to call police.

anyone out here in frederick who knows anything about this robbery being asked to call police. these guys are out there tonight and folks are concerned that they may strike again. if you know anything, go ahead and call law enforcement. for now we're live in frederick, ken molestina, wusa 9. and from stolen jewel rye we go to stolen identity. this is tax season now, but imagine this. you try to file your taxes only to find someone has beaten you to it. this is the nightmarish reality for millions of americans and many of them are your neighbors. >> that's right, derek. i have learned that this is a crime where you can be victimized over and over again. according to the treasury inspector general for tax administration, nearly 1.2 million of these cases were reported to the irs in 2012. and tonight, the two people you're about to hear from say they now live in constant fear. >> my accountant gave me a call on the telephone and told me we couldn't file electronically. >> reporter: the irs granted jonathan again an extension to

file his 2011 taxes. he needed the time to grieve the loss of his daughter, alexis. she was full of life, even as a brain tumor took a toll on her little body. >> she was an amazing little girl. never complained once. >> reporter: alexis died just a few weeks shy of her fifth birthday. when jonathan mustered the energy to finally file the family's taxes he got another blow. >> somebody had stolen alexis' social security number and used it to file a tax return. >> i said they must have made a mistake or something. >> reporter: nadine social security was used for a different kind of identity theft. she filed her taxes in january of last year and got a refund of over $6,000. in december she got a bill from the tax service telling her she needed to pay back a loan she supposedly secured. last year someone came to this h&r block location and used her social security number to take out thousand dollar loan in her

name. then that person came to this 7- 11 a block away and used the atm to withdraw the money from the prepaid debit card h&r block gave them. >> i don't see how they can go into h&r block and take out a loan and not show an i.d. or pay slip. >> it's a crime that can potentially haunt you the rest of your life. >> reporter: russell butler is the director for the crime resource center. 30 victims of i.d. theft sought their help last year. butler says technology has made it much easier for your i.d. to get into the wrong hands. >> five, ten, 15 years later someone still has your information. they still haven't been caught or they may not have it. they may have sold it to someone else. >> reporter: this kind of i.d. tax theft can happen in several ways but e-filing is helping to fuel it. it's often hard to spot and prosecute. the irs says its effort in 2012 helped to protect $20 billion

in revenue related to fraudulent returns. jonathan again thought his daughter's social security number was safe. he thinks alexis' i.d. was compromised because of a government death master file that contains the name, date of birth, address and number social security number of any person who dies. all you have to do is go online to buy it. >> you're powerless. you really have no ability to safeguard your loved one's identity after they die. >> how worried are you that somebody now has your social security number, can go out and commit more crimes? >> i'm very worried, because they can take out bigger loans. they can destroy me by doing this. >> reporter: now, we do have some good news in nadine's case. after she contacted us, we reached out to h&r block. the director of corporate communications told us they take this matter seriously and have apologized for the breakdown in the communications process. they say this is an isolated incident and we are working directly with the client to

resolve this matter. we have absolved the client of the debt and will provide identity theft protection services at our expense. now, identity crime is devastating. you can do everything right and this can still happen to you, so the best thing to do is to try to protect yourself to keep this from happening in the first place. here are some things you can do. leave your social security card at home. don't give a business or even a doctor that number. they don't need it. shred anything that comes in the mail to you with your address. remember, scammers get started with your basic information. and be sure to check your credit report and the credit report for your children every 12 months. we've got all kinds of resources, derek, links, phone numbers, ways to get help on our website. plus, we've got this pamphlet here from call for action on identity theft. it's in spanish and english. it will walk you through the process of what to do to protect yourself and then what to do if this happens to you. you'll find all these resources

on our website, wusa9.com. and you can click on the wusa 9 call for action link to file a complaint. >> all right, perfect information. thanks, leslie. well, it is time for you to get new batteries for your sequestration count down clock that you put on the shelf new year's day. those automatic across the board spending cuts are scheduled to pull $1.2 trillion out of our economy starting in just three weeks. that would put a lot of workers in our area out of their government paid-for jobs, even as the president today proposes a plan to stop the cuts. area employers are sending out the dreaded layoff noticeses. here's gary nurenberg. >> reporter: derek, more than any other area of the country, washington is dependent on the federal government for work. with those cuts scheduled to kick in on march 1st, we learn tonight that some government contractors are issuing layoff notices that say in essence, you're out of work unless congress gets a deal to stop the cuts, and then you're not.

the group in alexandria, 150 employees working for the feds and national defense, homeland security and aerospace. >> just get a deal done and stop kicking the can. by delaying, it makes matters worse. >> reporter: unless congress changes, the sequestration is march 1st. it begins with $55 billion from defense and $27 billion in domestic programs. more than a million jobs could go away. president obama suggested tuesday analternative for congress. >> they should at least pass a smaller package of spending cuts and tax reforms that would delay the economically damaging effects of the see quester. >> reporter: but local contractors say enough with the temporary measures. >> the uncertainty is worse than the cuts. >> private sector companies are like living organisms. we can adapt but we need to know what the living conditions are going to be in order for us to adapt and we don't have that

right now. >> reporter: so how do contractors deal? >> one of our own issued a preemptive layoff notice just yesterday. in other words they sent letters to 15 of their impose saying you're out of a job in a couple of weeks unless things get better, even though there's funding right now for that work. >> reporter: for many workers dependent on the defense department. >> the people who are employed now don't know whether they're going to have a job tomorrow because we don't know where the cuts are going to come from. >> reporter: so, what's congress going to do? we've got about three weeks before sequestration kicks in, which means based on recent performance we've got three weeks before congress is likely to get serious about it. derek. >> thank you, gary. tonight mayor vince gray laid out new proposals in the annual state of the district address. much of his agenda centers around continued economic development, the sort of thing that attracted thousands of new residents. >> we are growing more quickly than we have in decades with more than 30,000 new residents in the last two years. a growth rate of more than 1100

net new residents per month. >> the mayor proposed spending millions of dollars to build and preserve affordable housing. he also wants to create a fund to award grants to nonprofit groups to spur more innovation. senate democrats rejected two amendments that would have provided transportation funding in virginia. this comes on the very same day the d.c. area was named the most congested place in the country. we as d.c. area residents spend an average of 67 hours every year just sitting there in the traffic. governor mcdonnell issued a statement that said, and we quote, clearly this was all about partisanship, not policy. virginians deserve far better from their elected officials. new night, a community pulled together to help a heartbroken family. you might remember this fire in maryland last week. it took the home of the lillard family but also took the lives of two young sisters, leaving the parents and two other daughters injured. well, tonight neighbors packed

a chick-fil-a restaurant where much of the night's sales were donated to the lillard family. this fund-raiser is one of many that the community will hold in the months to come. late this evening we learned two bombs were founds inside that alabama bunker where a 5-year-old was held hostage for a week. yesterday a s.w.a.t. team stormed the bunker and grabbed the boy. there was then a firefight before jimmy dykes was killed. an agent also said it appears the 65-year-old had reinforced that bunker against any attempted entry by law enforcement. it was exactly a week ago when dykes boarded a school bus, killed the driver and abducted the kindergartner. today the kids returned to school, a sign outside honors the bus driver, and the other side has a happy birthday message for the boy who turned 6 tomorrow. a judge in florida has said no to a delay in the george zimmerman murder trial. zimmerman is the neighborhood

watch volunteer accused of killing trayvon martin during a confrontation with the unarmed team. today his attorneys argued prosecutors were turning over evidence too slowly but the judge rejected that. the trial begins in four months. trayvon martin would have turned 18 today. okay, admit it, everyone. you love this budweiser commercial that aired during the super bowl. but there was another ad that grabbed my attention. so far it has yet to let it go. stick around for tonight's let's be real. i'll talk about it. plus, the super bowl champs are home and today the fans got to celebrate with the ravens. and we were in the thick of it. two words, purple rain. topp. we were 42 today, first time for the month of february we got out of the 30s. here's your wakeup weather. you need your sunglasses tomorrow and your jacket. 20 to 34 at 7:00. generally in the 30s by 9:00. cold but not kind windy in the morning. we'll come back and talk about how chilly it will end up

excuse me, sir i'm gonna have to ask you to power down your little word game. i think your friends will understand. oh no, it's actually my geico app...see? ...i just uh paid my bill. did you really? from the plane? yeah, i can manage my policy, get roadside assistance, pretty much access geico 24/7. sounds a little too good to be true sir. i'll believe that when pigs fly. ok, did she seriously just say that? geico. just click away with our free mobile app.

>> this is a dream come true, celebrating with our fans. >> ravens are today. >> talk about fans. 200,000 of them showed up on the streets of baltimore to celebrate the team's big superbowl win.

the festivities ticked off at city hall with a -- kicked off with a parade and the fun didn't stop there. >> i'm scott broom at the bank stadium where today as far as 200,000 fans were concerned today's celebration was just like being at the super bowl itself. an unprecedented crowd of at least 80,000 packed into a stadium designed for just 70,000. as the parade of ravens arrived, people who couldn't get into the crowded gates literally climbed the walls. inside, children trapped in the standing room crowd on the field were lifted to the front row so they could see. the crescendo moment, iconic linebacker ray lewis lifting the lombardi trophy high, the final act of his storied career in baltimore. >> what's my name. >> ray lewis. >> the ravens who thought maybe 30,000 would show up in the stadium were stunned by this

super celebration. >> it was incredible. just not something we ever planned on or anticipated. we didn't see that coming. >> the stadium and parade was unbelievable. >> baltimore just shut down. i hope no doctors or nothing, i would have probably died. >> reporter: at the stadium in baltimore, scott broom, wusa 9. and for years to come, superbowl xlvii will always be remembered as the blackout bowl. during the second half of the game the power just went out. today superdome officials and the utility company announced they'll be hiring some outside experts to try and figure out why the lights dimmed for 34 minutes. now, documents show the stadium managers were concerned last fall about the power lines feeding into the dome. replacement work was done weeks before the nfl championship game and the contractor who performed the work is declining comment. all right, this budweiser commercial was one of the most popular during the super bowl.

and tonight we've got an update on that adorable week-old cyldesdale foal featured in it. thousands decided she should be named hope. the star spends her days roaming in a pasture in missouri. but there was another superbowl that didn't quite get so much attention. tonight derek says he just can't stop talking about it. >> this one wasn't funny or cute. it was the pro gun control commercial with the lobbyist telling congress back in 1999, hey, background checks for gun sales at gun shows completely reasonable. quote, no loopholes anywhere for anyone, he said. which is a bit of a shock since that's exactly the opposite of what he is saying today when he complains that background checks won't work because criminals won't go through hem. besides, he says in essence they would be too much trouble for law-abiding citizens. frankly, i always thought it was a bit disingenuous for the nra to say the real shooting

problem is mental illness while at the same time arguing against the one thing that might keep a dangerously unbalanced person from legally buying a gun. but now we find not only is it disingenuous, it's inconsistent. and frankly -- [ no audio ] >> it goes with the right to bear arms. that, my friends, is a bit more disturbing than this really bad kiss. leslie? >> you had to show it to us again, didn't you? >> yeah, well. >> all right. you say we need some sunglasses tomorrow. a bright but brisk wednesday, which we haven't had for a while. and then we're tracking a nor'easter, and if it were a normal winter i would be a little more excited. but alas, the winter of our discontent. >> contain your enthusiasm. >> okay. let's start with a live look outside on ou live michael & son weather cam. winds are negligible. they will become northwesterly

in a couple of showers. pressure falling. couple of sprinkles, couple of flurries passing through. a lot not reaching the ground just yet. it is west of the divide. we're going to pick up an inch or two tonight. in the metro area, a passing flurry or sprinkle tonight. that is about it. no worries for the morning commute. that's good news. so cold start but not windy tomorrow. grab your sunglasses. a bit cooler now, a bit colder on thursday. lower temperatures on thursday. i'll share that in a second. then we're tracking a nor'easter for friday that looks to me a pretty big snow for southern new england. in fact a really classic snow for southern new england. for us overnight, 28 to 34. mostly cloudy and cold. a flurry possible. winds northwesterly at 10. by morning, returning partly cloudy and cold. thankfully not windy. 20s and 30s. winds northwest at 10. by afternoon, a very nice day. mid-40s but mostly sunny and chilly. you need your sunglasses. winds out of the northwest

again at 10, but not strong. so we're looking at sunshine from the mountains to the coast. only 32 in oakland. 40 in cumberland. down toward culpeper 46. warrenton, manassas, leesburg, fairfax, 43, 44. downtown about the same, 44, 45. mid-40s as you head up north. you get past clarksburg maybe only about 43 in frederick. then mid to upper 40s into southern maryland. not much wind, no small craft advisory for the bay. 45 for high in annapolis. weather alerts are green, green. yellow on friday. 45 tomorrow. bright but brisk. thursday, lower it to 40. colder, mostly cloudy. stays dry on thursday and rainy and raw on friday. temperatures around 40. by the time the cold air comes in, our precipitation gets out of here and heads to new england. that leaves us with a brisk day on saturday. need a little breezy. temperatures in the mid-40s. then a little bit after pattern

change. low 50s sunday with sunshine. low 50s monday. need your umbrella again but we're talking a mild day. next tuesday sunshine and temperatures back into

>> the baltimore ravens have been called the team of destiny after suffering major injuries to their team throughout the season. the ravens got healthy in time for a wild ride to the big easy. today they brought that all back to the city of baltimore. an estimated 200,000 fans lined the city streets, filled the stadium to capacity. they filled every seat, every aisle, most of the playing field, all wanting a glimpse of the world's champs. the team and all the coaches emerged from that smoky tunnel for the final time this season to a crowd far bigger than anyone expected. >> i've never seen anything like it. i don't know if anybody here has. have you seen anything like this before? this is just phenomenal. we have pictures of people scaling the outside of the stadium walls and trying to get in after they locked the stadium up. >> no better team right now,

this year can beat these boys. not us. not in the world. yeah. >> 1996 to now. we believed in each other, baltimore. [ cheers ] >> for those that went to the verizon center for tonight's caps game they walked away with this scary looking gnome and not much of anything else. those of you that watched it at home this is all you pretty much missed. cap stalls honoring -- cap stalls honoring a -- capitals honoring a war hero. two goals within 2 1/2 minutes of each other. the caps keep playing keep away. marcus scores on the power play to pull within 1. the maple leaves making it look easy tonight. the slap shot to beat washington 3-2. the caps now officially have the worst

record in the nhl. >> we'll talk tomorrow. and we'll figure out a plan on how to approach it because we have to rebound for thursday again. >> now, tomorrow is national signing day at high schools around the country. lots of players from the dmv moving on to play some college ball. here's a look at where some of the top recruits in the area are planning on going. fuller following his brother to virginia tech. deep tackle jonathan allen from stone bridge to alabama. butler chose notre dame over michigan and penn state. another expected to become a seminal and gray decided to stay close to home in maryland. >> at least we got a gnome out of the deal. >> it is a little freaky. >> kind of a little scary. there he is. >> it's actually cute. >> in its way. in its way. >> the only good thing to come out of the game

>> you turned in your votes on facebook. now it is time to reveal the owner of the choose your news contest. we've got the bust of king richard iii, a giraffe injured by love and a massive snowman. >> sometimes love hurts. just ask the giraffe who lives at the miami zoo. turns out she's in heat and the male giraffes, let's say they're making a few passes. she fell for them literally. they gave her a little push, she tripped and the zoo cooper's had to help her get back -- zookeepers had to help her get back up. she's in isolation. looks like the guys won't be getting any love this

valentine's day. >> giraffes look inherently unstable. that could be the price when sometimes love goes astray. that is 9 news for tonight. thank you so much for staying up with us. >> don't forget we're always on at wusa9.com. letterman's next. have a great night, everybody.